Main line-lateral sprinkler valve



Feb. 7, 1967 L. H. WILLIAMS 3,302,661

MAIN LINE-*LATERAL- SPRINKLER VALVE Filed June 26, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 2

LEONARD H. WILLEAMS INVENTOR.

BY W WW ATTORNEY.

Feb. 7, 1967 w 1 3,302,661

MAIN LINE*LATERAL SPRINKLER VALVE Filed June 26, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 5

' LEONARD H. WILLIAMS INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,302,661 MAIN LINE-LATERAL SPRINKLER VALVE Leonard H. Williams, Rte. 1, Box 135, Hermiston, Greg. 97838 Filed June 26, 1964. Ser. No. 378,134 7 Claims. (Cl. 137322) My invention relates to a movable valve for sprinkler systems which embodies a bind-ring locking and releasing means for positioning on and removing the valve and its housing from lateral risers extending from the main irrigation line of a sprinkler system and which also embodies the feature of mobility from one riser to another without necessity of a valve and housing for each riser outlet.

One object of my invention is to provide a main linelateral sprinkler valve which may be moved from one main line riser to another without the necessity of having a valve housing for each riser when it is not connected to a lateral sprinkler line.

Another object of my invention is to provide a valve which can be quickly detached or positioned upon any other given main line riser.

Still another object of my invention is to employ an expandable rubber plug cooperating with the valve operating mechanism which may be moved vertically from its position in the main line riser to an open portion for the lateral line outlet in the valve housing and which may also be expanded or contracted by means of the same valve operating mechanism.

A still further object of my invention is to provide, preferably, a pliable plug for closing off the main line riser .which has the insertion pressure exerted at its lower surface, so that it may be placed in the riser against a head of water.

A still further object of my invention is to provide a valve raising and lowering mechanism which may be adapted not only to raising and lowering the rubber plug but also to expanding and contracting the said rubber plug when it is in position.

Other and further objects of my invention will be apparent from the drawings, specifications and claims as hereinafter set forth.

Referring to the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side, elevational view in partial section of the valve housing, the plug, shaft and wrench in position on a lateral riser of the main irrigation line. In this view, the valve plug mechanism is in the open position.

FIGURE 2 is a top view of the device taken in the direction of the arrows along line 2-2 of FIGURE 1 showing the selector wrench and the polyhedronal shape of the upper end of the hollow sleeve.

FIGURE 3 is a cross-sectional view of the valve housing and operating wrench taken in the direction of the arrows along line 33 of FIGUREI.

FIGURE 4 is an elevational view in partial section of the valve housing, operating shaft, selector wrench and the valve plug in closed position, showing the selector wrench engaged with the upper end of the sleeve and showing the valve housing in position on a lateral riser of a main irrigation line.

FIGURE 5 is an elevational view in partial section of a main irrigation line and a lateral riser with an expandable plug seated in the riser to shut off water flow.

Referring further to the drawings:

The valve housing of my device is designed to slip over a lateral riser 11 which communicates with a main water line 12 of an irrigation or sprinkler system. The valve housing 10 is provided at its closed upper end 10 with a packing gland 13 threadedly engaged with said housing and with a lateral outlet 16" which intersects and communicates with the interior of said valve housing. A sleeve 14 is positioned concentrically of said packing gland i atented Feb. 7, 1967 'ice and provided with a shoulder 15 of enlarged diameter between the lower position of the packing gland 13 and the upper end 10' of the housing 10. The inner diameter at the lowermost end 16 of the sleeve 14 is provided with threads. An operating shaft 17 complementary to the inner diameter of the sleeve 14 is positioned within said sleeve and from a point medially thereof to its lowermost end is provided with threads 18 which are complementary to the threads at the inner diameter of the lowermost end 16 of said sleeve 14. An operating wrench 19 provided with a T-slot, or other suitably shaped, head is pivotally attached by means such as a pin to the lower end of shaft 17. The wrench 19 is detachably engageable by means of its T-slot with a bayonet 20 which is positioned in and protrudes from threaded expansion shaft 21. The expansion shaft 21 is provided with an integral collar 22 which is spaced below the bayonet 20. The threads of shaft 21 are complementary to threads positioned in socket 24- which is secured to the lower end of a preferably hollow, pliable cylindrical cup 23. A flange 25 engages with the open top end of said cup 23 and is provided with a recess 26 concentric thereof which accommodates the integral collar 22 of shaft 21. A gasket 27, preferably a rubber O-ring, is positioned between the lateral riser 11 and the lower end 28 of valve housing 10. A link 29 is pivotally connected at one end thereof to the side of the lower end 28 of valve housing 10. At its other end link 29 may be either pivotally or rigidly connected to a ring 30 which is provided with an inner opening of greater diameter than that of lateral riser 11 and which will detachably bind the housing 10 to the riser 11. A selector wrench 31 is slidably mounted at one end on shaft 32, and at the other end it is provided with an opening 33 complementary to the polyhedronal, or noncircular, upper end of sleeve 14 which protrudes above the surface of the packing gland 13. A pin 34 protrudes from shaft 32 and may rest either on stop 35 or the upper end 10" of the valve housing 10. A crank 36 may be either detachably or fixedly secured to the uppermost end of shaft 17.

In operation the expandable plug 23 of my device is mated by the bayonet 20 of its shaft 21 with the slotted wrench 19 on the lower end of shaft 17 when the rubber plug is in position in the upper end of a lateral riser 11; and at substantially the same time the bind-ring 30 and valve housing 10 are slipped over lateral riser 11. A lateral sprinkler line, not shown in the drawings, is then attached to lateral outlet 10". Rotating the crank 36, positioned on the upper end of the operating shaft 17, in the appropriate direction with the selector wrench disengaged from sleeve 14 will cause the expandable, pliable plug positioned in lateral riser 11 to contract sufficiently to be slidable within riser 11 and the adjacent valve housing 10 positioned thereon and thereabove. Upon sufficiently contracting the pliable, such as a rubber, plug 23 the opening 33 in the end of selector wrench 31 is en gaged with the protruding, complementary end of sleeve 14 by means of rotating guide shaft 32 so that its integral pin 34 is moved from abutment upon the upper end 10' of the valve housing 10, allowing wrench 31 to be lowered into engagement with stop 35. By continuing the rotation of crank 36 and shaft 17 in the same direction, said shaft will now turn within sleeve 14 and its threaded portion 18 will rise up through the sleeves complementary threads bringing with it the contracted rubber plug 23 by means of the engagement of its T-slotted wrench 19 with bayonet 20 of the plug shaft 21. When the plug has been raised to the desired position in valve housing 10, the opening of the lateral outlet 10" will be partially or wholly accessible to water flowing from main line 12 up through lateral riser 11 and valve housing 10. The released water will flow out through valve housing outlet 10" into a 1 action resulting from water pressure.

lateral sprinkler, or irrigation, line connected thereto and ultimately to the desired location on the ground. When the water rushes up through lateral 11 and out through valve housing and integral outlet 10", its pressure tends to tilt the valve housing which compresses the O-ring gasket 27, thereby preventing leaks between the valve housing 10 and lateral riser 11. At the same time that the water pressure is sealing the valve housing with the lateral riser it is also securing the valve housing 10 upon the lateral riser 11 by means of the bind-ring 30 which is cinched frictionally held against riser 11 by the tilting The main linelateral sprinkler valve unit will be left in this attitude until the sprinkling operation is completed in a particular area.

When sprinkling is finished in a given area, the crank 36 is rotated in the opposite direction from what it was to release the flow of water, while wrench 31 is still engaged on the upper end of sleeve 14, until the plug 23 has moved down to the proper position in lateral riser 11, thereby impeding the flow of water through lateral outlet 10". The selector wrench 31 is, then, disengaged from the complementary upper end of sleeve 14. Thereafter, continued rotation of crank 36 in the same direction will cause shaft 17 through the slotted wrench 19 to rotate the compression shaft 21, through its engagement with bayonet 20, and to draw said shaft by means of the complementary threading down into socket 24 and expand plug 23. The expanding plug 23 is prevented from turning by the abutment of pins 11' and 24 and is thereby expanded tightly within lateral riser 11 to shut off completely the flow of water from the main line 12 into lateral outlet 10. The lateral sprinkler line can then be disengaged from lateral outlet 10" by releasing the bind-ring 30 by means of by straightening the valve housing on the riser or lifting said ring at a point, preferably opposite from its connection to link 29, and by rotating crank 36 slightly to disengage bayonet 20 from wrench 19. At this point the valve unit, including shaft 17, sleeve 14, wrench 19, housing 10, etc., can be lifted off lateral riser 11, leaving expanding plug 23 seated in the end thereof, and moved to other risers at which places the above-described operational process is repeated until watering and sprinkling of the entire field is accomplished.

From the foregoing it is apparent that no more valve housing units are required than the number of lateral sprinkler lines available. It is also apparent that a rigid plug 23 with complementary locking means in the riser 11 could be used and that a plug will be left in the end of each unused lateral riser, thereby effectively cutting off water flow until such time as operational cycle described above is reimplemented to remove the plug from a particular riser. It is, further, to be understood that the foregoing describes only a presently preferred embodiment of my invention, that many variations therefrom are feasible without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention and that I am not limiting myself, therefore, to the particularly described embodiment.

What I claim is:

1. A main line-lateral irrigation valve consisting of a tubular housing provided with lateral outlet means rnedially thereof; a packing gland with a concentric opening therethrough, eng'ageable in the upper end of said valve housing; a tubular sleeve, having a polyhedronally shaped upper end, a shoulder medially thereof, and threads at the lower end of its inner diameter, complementary to and positioned in said packing gland opening; a partially threaded shaft, concentric of said tubular sleeve, threadedly complementary throughout its lower portion with said tubular sleeve inner threads and threadless throughout its upper portion; a wrench pivotally connected to the lower end of said partially threaded shaft and having a T-slot diametrically disposed through its lower end; an expandable, hollow rubber plug within said valve housing, positionable in the end of a riser, open at the top, having a threaded socket concentric of its lower end, a concentrically recessed flange, said recess being provided with a concentric hole through said flange, slidably engaged with the open upper end of said rubber plug, a threaded shaft provided with a collar near its upper end and a bayonet pin above said collar, engageable with said wrench T-slot and positioned in said concentric hole, with its threads complementary to and engaged with said threaded socket and an eccentric pin depending from the lower surface of said threaded socket; a pin disposed on the inner surface of said riser, engageable with said depending pin one said threaded socket; a gasket positioned at the inner diameter near the lower end of said valve housing; a link pivotally attached at one end near the lower end of said valve housing; a bind-ring attached to the other end of said link; a wrench, slidably secured to said valve housing, engageable with the polyhedronal upper end of said tubular sleeve; and a handle engageable with the upper end of said partially threaded shaft.

2. A main line-lateral irrigation valve consisting of a housing provided with lateral outlet means and positionable on a riser from a main line; closing means, having a concentric opening therethrough, engaged with the upper end of said valve housing; a sleeve, having securing means at its upper end, bearing means medially thereof, and a partially threaded inner surface, positioned in said concentric opening; partially threaded means, positioned in said sleeve, complementary at its threaded portion to said sleeve threads; a gripping means connected to the lower end of said partially threaded means; an expandable plug within said valve housing; expanding means disposed in said expandable plug, said means being complementary to said gripping means and acting on the lower surface of said plug; means retaining said expandable plug against rotation, positioned within said riser; a bind-ring detachably securing said valve housing to said riser; selector means engageable with said securing means on said sleeve; and means rotating said partially threaded shaft.

3. In a main line-lateral irrigation valve, positionable on a main line riser, having a housing and detachable raising and lowering means: an expandable, hollow plug, open at the top, having threaded recessed means concentric of its lower end and a depending, eccentric protrusion; a flange provided with a concentric opening therethrough engageable with the open upper end of said plug; a threaded shaft disposed through said concentric opening having engagement means complementary to the detachable raising and lowering means of a main line-lateral valve; and other means within a main line riser engaging With said depending protrusion and securing said rubber plug against rotation.

4. A main line-lateral irrigation valve consisting of a housing provided with lateral outlet means, a closed upper surface, having a concentric opening therethrough, and an open lower surface; a sleeve, having securing means at its upper end, a circumscribing shoulder medially thereof and a partially threaded inner surface; a partially threaded central shaft positioned in said sleeve, having its threaded portion complementary to said sleeve threads; an operating means connected to the lower end of said partially threaded shaft; a cup-shaped expandable plug within said valve housing and below said operating means; expanding means disposed in and acting on the lower surface of said expandable plug and provided with operable means complementary to said operating means; means pivotally connected to said valve housing, detachably and frictionally binding said valve housing to an irrigation riser; and selector means engageable with and complementary to said securing means of said sleeve, thereby controlling the expansion and movement of said plug.

5. An irrigation valve consisting of a housing provided with lateral outlet means, a closed upper surface, having an opening therethrough, and an open lower surface; a

sleeve, having securing means, a shoulder and a threaded inner surface, positioned in said opening; a complementary, threaded shaft positioned in said sleeve; and operating means connected to the lower end of said shaft; a pliable, cup-shaped plug Within said valve housing and below said operating means; compression and operable means acting on the lower surface of said plug complementary to said operating means; bind-ring means on said valve housing, detachably and frictionally securing said housing to a riser bind-ring; means securing and said plug at selected points Within said housing; and selector means engageable with said sleeve securing means, determining the operation and function of said plug.

6. In a main line-lateral irrigation valve engageable with a lateral riser: a tubular valve housing, having lateral outlet means, open at its lower end; operating means extending into said valve housing from its upper end; an expandable, pliable, movable, hollow valve plug operably engageable with said operating means within said housing, said plug having a threaded socket concentric of its lower end, means at its upper end with a concentric hole therethrough, an expansion shaft in said hole threadedly complementary to and engaged with said threaded socket, said shaft complementing and engaging with said operating means; a gasket positioned at the inner diameter of the lower end of said housing; bind-ring means, pivotally attached to one end of a link depending from said valve housing, frictionally securing said housing on a riser; and selector means slidably secured to said valve housing controlling said operating means thereby expanding, contracting, positioning and removing said plug relative to said riser.

7. In 'a main line-lateral irrigation valve positionable on a riser and having a housing and valve operating means: a detachable, expandable, hollow plug, open at the top, provided with a means at its lower surface; means, having an opening therethrough, engageabl'e with; the top of said plug; expanding means disposed through. said opening and in said expandable plug and coacting With said means at its lower surface, said means being complementary to a valve operating means of a main linelateral valve housing; and other means, disposed in a riser, retaining said expandable plug against rotation within said riser.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,483,395 10/1949 Benson. 2,514,911 7/1950 Tatum 13889 2,768,642 10/1956 Sherman et a1. 137-321 2,881,788 4/1959 Johnson 137-321 3,032,069 5/1962 Ficklin l3889 WILLIAM F. ODEA, Primary Examiner.

ISADOR WEIL, Examiner.

D. R. MATTHEWS, Assistant Examiner. 

7. IN A MAIN LINE-LATERAL IRRIGATION VALVE POSITIONABLE ON A RISER AND HAVING A HOUSING AND VALVE OPERATING MEANS: A DETACHABLE, EXPANDABLE, HOLLOW PLUG, OPEN AT THE TOP, PROVIDED WITH A MEANS AT ITS LOWER SURFACE; MEANS, HAVING AN OPENING THERETHROUGH, ENGAGEABLE WITH THE TOP OF SAID PLUG; EXPANDING MEANS DISPOSED THROUGH SAID OPENING AND IN SAID EXPANDABLE PLUG AND COACTING WITH SAID MEANS AT ITS LOWER SURFACE, SAID MEANS BEING COMPLEMENTARY TO A VALVE OPERATING MEANS OF A MAIN LINELATERAL VALVE HOUSING; AND OTHER MEANS, DISPOSED IN A RISER, RETAINING SAID EXPANDABLE PLUG AGAINST ROTATION WITHIN SAID RISER. 